Women in Bangladesh
| As one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, Bangladesh is regularly ravaged by cyclones and floods. The sad reality is that women and children are the most vulnerable during these disasters because they lack information about what to do during an emergency.
A new project, led by the Bangladesh Red Crescent, funded by the European Commission, and supported by other national societies including the British Red Cross, seeks to empower women by preparing them for disasters before they happen.
The project depends on female volunteers who attend community training meetings and then disseminate disaster preparedness information to other women in their community.
These are the stories of some of the women involved. Noorjahan Begum
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 | | | Noorjahan (51) was only 14 when a cyclone ripped through her village and killed her husband and three of her sisters, but she has seen a lot of changes in her community in the past four decades, thanks to the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Read Noorjahan's story | |
 | | | Farjana (35) also has terrible memories of past storms, so now she goes to community meetings and visits other women in their homes to tell them how to prepare for disasters.
Read about Farjana | |
 | | | Nazma (34), a volunteer and local government committee member, helps disseminate information about cyclones and how to prepare for disasters, which has earned her respect - as well as heartache - in her community.
Read Nazma's story | |
 | | | Rani (42) has learned that changing how a community reacts during a disaster is difficult, but changing cultural attitudes about who has access to information is extremely hard.
Read about Rani's work | |
Sabikun ‘Hashi’ Nahar and Israt ‘Koli’ Jahan
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 | | | Hashi (15) and Koli (18) are sisters who are very interested in disaster preparedness, even though they have never seen a cyclone.
Read about Hashi and Koli | |
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